Today was a big day.  Benchmarks abound!

I got to tour the Actor's House.  This is an old house dating back to the late 1800s.  Its actually very close to my new apartment, but don't tell the actors, its seems that I might get many more complaints/requests if they knew I was that close!

The house sits behind St. Augustine's Church in Old City and was once probably part of the larger church property.  It has six bedrooms and a creepy basement and equally creepy attic, though creepy in different ways.  On the walk over we chatted about different things, including the idea that there was a trunk with relics in it somewhere in the attic.  Real relics, I wondered like body parts and the like, or more like vestments and church discards?  Either way it sounded cool.

While the house itself is half run down old house and half full of character, one thing is for sure.  There is some nice furniture in there.  Most of what's in the house was donated and acquired free and some of it is quite nice.  To my tastes anyway.  Old, solid wood dressers.  Some craftsmen style, some more Victorian, I guess. (I am not really up on my style eras.)  The closets are hilarious.  Some are barely six inches deep.  All but one of the rooms have en suite bathrooms with tiny showers.  I wonder if the Arden converted the house into its current "boarding house" configuration or if it was like that.  I'll have to look into that.  The showers are tiny modular things, so I knew they are all add ons.  Reminded me of my current yellow shower at my sister's.   But that's a different story, I digress.

Back to the basement which smelled a bit like my childhood basement, which is not a good smell.  You know you're in a new job when you are touring furnaces and caring that they are brand new.  Hopefully, that will be one less thing to break. It turns out that I care about things like that now.  The hot water heater, on the other hand,  not so new.  Oh, I forgot.  When Mary Beth was first opening the door of the basement, she said, "step aside while I open it.  You never know what's there."  Interesting.  I think the wall was fuzzy when I touched it, but I didn't touch it a second time so I don't know for sure.

We looked at all the rooms in order and came up to the third floor where there has clearly been a leak and there is extensive damage.  They already know they will be replacing the roof.  Another one of my projects.  I was having flashbacks to E Street. Oh god, I hope there's no structural damage to this building.  No one has looked into that yet.  Please don't let me be a jinx.

Finally, we came to the attic.  Again the admonition to step aside.  "Once there was a dead bird on the steps."  "How do birds get into the attic? Wait, I don't want to know."  By time, I have to tell you that I was sweating like a pig. Not only were we rising in the house, but because there are no actors yet, there is not air conditioning on.  The house itself doesn't have central air, just room units and there's no point running them until its time.

No dead birds on the stairs, but my sweaty body was a catch all for every spider web slung across the place.  Ick.  I was convinced that things were crawling on me but I was trying to act very nonchalant.  At one point I said that I thought something touched me and MB said, "Oh yeah, its possible.  People say the house haunted."  An interesting response since I totally meant a bug.  Note to self.  Try not to be in that house alone at night.

The attic if full of junk.  It seems that  my boss is a sucker for anything being given or thrown away, even if there's no possible use or need for the item.  Great.  And its no longer a mystery to me how birds are getting in.  A new roof while expensive and a pain in the butt, would probably solve a whole bunch of ills.

We spied a cool looking very old trunk and decided we would solve the mystery of the relics once and for all.  After climbing over a few bizarre odds and ends we lifted the trunk open and found it completely empty. What a let down.  In truth, I don't think I really did want to see some saint's severed hand, but I was at least hoping for some old church papers from the last century.  Nothing.  Hardly worth sweating over.

My tour was complete.  Actor's House was going to take some upkeep.

Next up was the electrical meeting for the new building construction.  Architect, contractors, electricians, electrical supply people and our folks.  All with Philadelphia accents.  Hilarious.  All of it was in English.  About half of it I could understand.  I learned quite a bit about medicine.  I guess I'll be learning the ins and outs of a renovation soon as well.

When the meeting was over everyone had left the office.  Now normally that's not a big deal  But in this office, the last one to leave has to turn on the alarm.  Also not a big deal if all goes well.  But remember, this isn't just an office.  This is a huge building with two theatres, huge basement, catwalk, light booth, and more than I can even find on my own yet.  Luckily there was still someone in the box office.  We left together, walking around the perimeter of the building to check all doors and then finally arming the building.  Like I said, not bad if all goes well.  Its did, this time.  I can only hope.  No wonder people rush out so as not to be the last person.  Its starting to make sense....

There was more... a neighbor who says our new building is sending water bugs into her gallery, an AC compressor which needs to be replaced, rental questions but you've got the highlights.  What more can you ask for at a new job than a chance at relics!!!

All in all, a good day.  Starting, ever so slowly, to be able to do a couple of things,  not just listening listening, listening all day long.  Starting ever so slowly to feel a bit more comfortable and hopefully folks are feeling more comfortable with me.  Heading towards the end of week two, I'd say things are looking up.